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Green Value Host Review - 3 Weeks
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Green Value Host Review - 3 Weeks

Hi everyone,

I've been a fan of Low End Boxes and Low End Talk for a while, but this is my first post, and it's a review! I've used lots of different hosting solutions in the past and a few weeks ago I decided to try Green Value Host. I've seen a bit of negative chatter about them and I wanted to give an honest review of how they've been for me so far.

Generally speaking, I'm quite happy with Green Value Host, however the one problem I have is that the response times of the server vary wildly, and sometimes goes down for a few minutes.

I'm currently running a web server for a single website using Apache and Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit. I live in Australia.

Order

From GVH, I ordered:

15GB RAID-10 SSD Accelerated Disk Space
8TB PREMIUM Bandwidth, 1Gbps Port
1 IPv4 Addresses
32 IPv6 Addresses
768MB Guaranteed RAM

Hosted in Los Angeles, California.

Setup
After ordering I was sent an email with my VPS' connection information 8 hours later. I tried to connect to my server through SSH and it did not work.

I sent a message to customer service through the ticketing system provided in their email:

"I recently purchased a VPS from you, and I've received the connection information, however when I login to the SolusVM page with my username: xxxxxx the server is listed as OFFLINE. I've tried rebooting it and it still says OFFLINE.

Can you please help to turn it on?"

and I received this reply:

Please login to your account.

Kind Regards,

Initially, this direct reply gave me a bad impression. But I understood the problem, the ticket link they'd provided had taken me to their non-client page and I had sent a request not from my account. I opened a new ticket after going to their site and logging in, and they fixed the server later that day.

Next, I tried to login again but still couldn't login. I tried a few more times but it wasn't working. I finally ended up changing the root password via the client backend and then I was able to login to the box - and no I didn't get the password wrong - it still wouldn't work when I tried to change it back to what it was originally.

A bit of a hiccup, but not a big problem. I don't mind having to wait a day or two to get a server up and running.

The VPS
From here on, I've been pretty happy with the VPS. It's been able to do everything I want it to do and it's just worked as you would expect... apart from one problem described below.

Currently I am hosting one website on the box with a domain I bought from another supplier. I am using Ubuntu 12 and the standard Apache setup that comes with that. The webpage is a static site.

Speeds

> wget freevps.us/downloads/bench.sh -O - -o /dev/null|bash
> CPU model :  Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
> Number of cores : 1
> CPU frequency :  2401.000 MHz
> Total amount of ram : 768 MB
> Total amount of swap : 0 MB
> System uptime :   15 days, 7:25,
> Download speed from CacheFly: 90.4MB/s
> Download speed from Coloat, Atlanta GA: 16.1MB/s
> Download speed from Softlayer, Dallas, TX: 49.4MB/s
> Download speed from Linode, Tokyo, JP: 5.08MB/s
> Download speed from i3d.net, Rotterdam, NL: 7.96MB/s
> Download speed from Leaseweb, Haarlem, NL: 17.8MB/s
> Download speed from Softlayer, Singapore: 9.24MB/s
> Download speed from Softlayer, Seattle, WA: 20.3MB/s
> Download speed from Softlayer, San Jose, CA: 55.9MB/s
> Download speed from Softlayer, Washington, DC: 1.43MB/s
> I/O speed :  30.9 MB/s

Downtime
The biggest and really only problem I've experienced so far is downtime. The response times to the server vary wildly and the server goes down for periods of about 5 minutes. Sometimes the response time is about 1 minute. During these times I also can't SSH into the machine, and I've verified with people in other countries (e.g. the US) that the website is also down.

Here are stats from Uptime Robot for the past day:

You can see the downtime of a few minutes here, but the response times minute to minute is more problematic. They jump around. Here are some consecutive response times (in ms):
243,234,431,425,106,1351,338,83,78,78,62
That's over the span of about 2 hours and continues throughout the day.

Comparably, my website on Bluehost (shared hosting) has a consistent response time of 200ms.

As I mentioned, my setup is a simple static website on Apache, and the CPU is usually <1% in use, and the RAM is about 600MB free (out of 768MB). So I don't believe it's my configuration.

This downtime factor is stopping me from purchasing another VPS from Green Value Host. I am curious to know how their other main location, Dallas is doing as I read in some other posts on these forums that those might be better.

I'd love to get a reply from one of the GVH representatives here to see if anything can be done about the downtime.

Overall
Overall I like the machine and the general appearance of GVH. All the things I require from a VPS are there, however I cannot recommend them fully until they've handled their downtime issues which are frequent and daily. Once they clear this up then I'll definitely be buying another.

«1345

Comments

  • @edwardF
    hi . you must be new here .

  • earlearl Member

    @edwardF

    Considering this is your first post, you seem pretty proficient with vanilla.. Maybe nothing but I just find it odd..

    Thanked by 2linuxthefish ehab
  • ATHKATHK Member

    3 weeks is hardly enough time to review a service.. come back in 2 months and 1 week...

  • What node are you on? And what is your service ID? I would like to get the downtime and slow IO performance investigated because we do strive for 99.9% uptime as well as at least 100MB/s IO for every client. I'll credit you for the 0.2% and the downtime and IO looked at ASAP.

  • earlearl Member

    Not sure where this is going.. maybe just another coincidence, but..

    Edward posted..

    edwardF Member
    9:20PM
    

    GVH replied

    GreenValueHost Member
    9:21PM
    

    Interesting..

  • @earl said:
    edwardF

    Considering this is your first post, you seem pretty proficient with vanilla.. Maybe nothing but I just find it odd..

    Well I've been here a few days or a few weeks not sure but markdown is quiet known :)

    On topic I did have downtime when I used them before for a mate and up down up down etc but it did the job, however I wouldn't recommend them to anyone lately, so glad your enjoying it.

  • namhuynamhuy Member

    @edwardF welcome to LET, maybe you are new, GreenValueHost is very "popular" here for this sort of quality, they also said they are more into quantity rather than quality.

  • yywudiyywudi Member

    @GreenValueHost said:
    we do strive for 99.9% uptime as well as at least 100MB/s IO for every client.

    oh really? everytime when i met the <100M/s IO I could ask for compensation?

  • earlearl Member

    Licensecart said: Well I've been here a few days or a few weeks not sure but markdown is quiet known :)

    True.. just don't see too many first time posters posting with proper form!

    I have nothing against GVH I actually find their threads quite entertaining ;)

    Thanked by 1Licensecart
  • PcJamesyPcJamesy Member
    edited June 2014

    @earl said:
    edwardF

    Considering this is your first post, you seem pretty proficient with vanilla.. Maybe nothing but I just find it odd..

    If he was saying that they were the best host of all time I might be suspicious, but his review sounds honest. He went in with appropriate expectations for the price he paid.

    CPU model : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1240 v3 @ 3.40GHz
    Number of cores : 4
    CPU frequency : 3399.984 MHz
    Total amount of ram : 4048 MB
    Total amount of swap : 4144 MB
    System uptime : 11 days, 22:30,
    Download speed from CacheFly: 68.6MB/s
    Download speed from Coloat, Atlanta GA: 22.0MB/s
    Download speed from Softlayer, Dallas, TX: 31.4MB/s
    Download speed from Linode, Tokyo, JP: 4.79MB/s
    Download speed from i3d.net, Rotterdam, NL: 7.91MB/s
    Download speed from Leaseweb, Haarlem, NL: 5.85MB/s
    Download speed from Softlayer, Singapore: 5.32MB/s
    Download speed from Softlayer, Seattle, WA: 20.5MB/s
    Download speed from Softlayer, San Jose, CA: 19.1MB/s
    Download speed from Softlayer, Washington, DC: 42.0MB/s
    I/O speed : 74.0 MB/s

    My uptime has been great, there were a few random reboots when I first got it in January but they have stopped. I would say the IO speed there is pretty average, but the box is snappy. This is the plan with "100 TB" of bandwidth and I used 11 TB last month so defiantly getting my $5 of value out of it.

  • earlearl Member

    @PcJamesy

    Yes, that's why I mentioned it would be interesting to see where this going..

  • edwardFedwardF Member
    edited June 2014

    Wow! I guess I'll take the posts about my posting style as a compliment. Yes I'm a new member, but I'm not new to the Internet :P and I know how to write in English. I just wanted to give an honest review after lurking for a while, and hope that GVH can see this and fix the issues.

    I don't say that GVH is perfect. Far from it. I've said that I'm disappointed with the downtime, but for the price it could be worse.

    @GreenValueHost said:
    What node are you on? And what is your service ID? I would like to get the downtime and slow IO performance investigated because we do strive for 99.9% uptime as well as at least 100MB/s IO for every client. I'll credit you for the 0.2% and the downtime and IO looked at ASAP.

    I don't know where to find those things, but I'll PM you my IP/account name, etc.

    Thanked by 1earl
  • earlearl Member

    @edwardF said:
    Wow! I guess I'll take the posts about my posting style as a compliment. Yes I'm a new member, but I'm not new to the Internet :P and I know how to write in English. I just wanted to give an honest review after lurking for a while.

    Pardon my suspicion, LET has had it's fair share of funny business lately, so I suppose it's just reflex on my part.. Probably not the warmest welcome but welcome just the same :)

    I don't know where to find those things, but I'll PM you my IP/account name, etc.

    Not necessary, this isn't WHT :P

  • cfgguycfgguy Member, Host Rep

    Welcome to LET!
    If your first post is a +ve review for a provider especially like GVH, you are most likely to get trolled here.

    The kind of formatting you have used. Its a good copy paste job.
    Where is everybody ?? Making popcorn ?

  • earl said: Not necessary, this isn't WHT :P

    GVH was asking for that to "look into" the downtime issue.

    Thanked by 1earl
  • earlearl Member

    @soulchief said:

    Misread that lol..

  • @cfgguy said:
    Welcome to LET!
    If your first post is a +ve review for a provider especially like GVH, you are most likely to get trolled here.

    The kind of formatting you have used. Its a good copy paste job.
    Where is everybody ?? Making popcorn ?

    The review isn't positive, and I don't understand what a "copy paste job" is.

  • SunnSunn Member

    Very good review, starting to see some positive changes toward GVH (:

  • AlexUAlexU Member
    edited June 2014

    Hi @edwardF
    Welcome to LET! Thank you very much for both outlining the positive effects on our service and also issues which you have.

    We appreciate reviews such as yours so we are able to establish server issues, and policy procedures which need working on.

    I am extremely concerned about the downtime you have experienced. As Jon said, we would like to get the downtime and slow IO performance investigated because we do strive for 99.9% uptime as well as at least 100MB/s IO for every client.

    I am more than willing to provide you either a free month, or the equivalent in account credit so you can purchase a server in another location. I will also get a staff member to investigate the slow IO performance and uptime.

    Do you have a ticket which you submitted about this issue? If so, would you please be able to PM me the ticket number so I can take a look at how we handled the ticket, and what we could do better to improve service for you, and for every other customer in the future.

    If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via PM, or by emailing me at [email protected]

    I personally thank you for choosing GreenValueHost and we will get this investigated.

    Have a good evening.

    Best,

  • when your VPS was showing offline, was it the Debian minimal template? They still haven't fixed that after like 6 months :/

    Thanked by 1darkshire
  • AlexUAlexU Member

    hostnoob said: when your VPS was showing offline, was it the Debian minimal template? They still haven't fixed that after like 6 months :/

    @Hostnoob
    Howdy,
    Thank you for your reply. This is very very very concerning to hear! Do you have a ticket number I could look into to see how staff handled this?

    Regards,

  • hostnoobhostnoob Member
    edited June 2014

    @GVH_Alex said:
    Regards,

    only an old one, but I'm not too bothered any more anyway, since now I just use the normal Debian one, but I don't think it was ever taken off the template list and it will no doubt confuse people if it's still not working (which is why I asked the OP)

  • @hostnoob said:
    when your VPS was showing offline, was it the Debian minimal template? They still haven't fixed that after like 6 months :/

    It was just inaccessible. I couldn't reach it via SSH, HTTP, or ping it or anything. I don't expect instant activation, but having to open a ticket to set it up is annoying. I've had to do the same with another host a couple of years ago and it's confusing because, as a customer, I'm not sure if I've done something wrong or if it's their fault.

    @GVH_Alex said:
    Do you have a ticket which you submitted about this issue? If so, would you please be able to PM me the ticket number so I can take a look at how we handled the ticket, and what we could do better to improve service for you, and for every other customer in the future.

    Thank you for the prompt reply. I appreciate it. I've opened a ticket and sent you a PM.

  • AlexanderMAlexanderM Member, Top Host, Host Rep

    GVH also also you for your node / location when it's slow, don't they monitor their nodes?

  • AlexanderMAlexanderM Member, Top Host, Host Rep
    edited June 2014

    @Jack said:
    CHEESE GROMIT.

    Is it nice Cheese?

  • I do say Alex is more professional :)

  • J1021J1021 Member

    Licensecart said: I do say Alex is more professional :)

    Well, as 'International Relations Manager & Public Relations' I'm sure he's being paid a fair bit as an employee..

    Thanked by 1Licensecart
  • Good to see +ve review here. :)

  • eversmile_host said: Good to see +ve review here. :)

    Odd how you consider downtime in the first week, erratic network and poor disk IO to be a positive review...

This discussion has been closed.